Sad and Happy Books!

Sorry it took me a while to blog. Here goes!

“Shattered Dreams: My life as a polygamist’s wife”, by Irene Spencer, is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It is also quite sad. Irene was born into polygamy, her mother being a second wife. Irene was told that polygamy was the only way she can acquire heaven. Irene Spencer married her brother-in-law, Verlan Lebaron , as his second wife for 28 years before leaving that world behind. The book tells of her hardships she had to endure as being a plural wife and what it was like to live in poverty in Mexico. She has 14 children and 58 grandchildren.

I was amazed at the hardships Irene endured in Mexico to keep her family fed. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain at the thought of having to share my husband. I was shaking my head in disbelief at the reality of false prophets and the authority they can let go to their heads. I was so happy when Irene left that lifestyle behind and has been happily married to one man for 20 years. I discovered she is writing a book on that love story. I had signed her guestbook on her website telling her that I had enjoyed her books and am looking forward to the love story. To my surprise she had responded!

I am so glad that you enjoyed my books. I have almost finished seven. So, if God willing, you will hear from me for quite some time! Will send you notices each time a book is released..Irene

Another book I quite enjoyed (a much happier one) is "Marley an Me", by John Grogan. This book is so funny! I teared from laughter! I laughed out loud and even cried on one part. I enjoyed reading about Marley from when he was a pup. I can't imagine how much work goes into a dog like him. I laughed when he finally graduated doggy school. I cried when the dog comforted John's wife when she was heartbroken about her non-pregnancy. I laughed when Marley ate Jenny's neclace. I cannot believe even a big metal cage could not hold the massive dog! The stories were great. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good laugh. Beware though, Marley has extreme terrors of thunder storms. The details can get a little shocking.

Have a good day!

Carmen

Hearty laughter is a good way to job internally without having to go outdoors.

-Norman Cousins

Wow!! It has been nearly four months....

since the last time we blogged! So sorry!!! Here is a quick blog for ya!

i have finished all the books in the Princess Diaries series. Although Meg skipped a year or two in Mia's life, it worked well and ended LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO!!! YAY!! i hate reading books that end wrong! It is just so... so... WRONG!

So there is my MicroBlog, trying to beat Carmen to the punch!

See ya all again soon!
Barb

A book may be compared to your neighbor; if it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early.
- Henry Brooke

What Barb has been reading....

Well since i last checked in here, i have read The Candy Shop War, by Brandon Mull (which was great... More review to follow) and then i decided to try something new in the form of The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot (Have read 4.5 of her books... If you have read the series, you know that she has actually published a couple of "half volumes"... Kinda strange, i know... More review to follow).

Then i took time out from the Princess Diaries to read the new Jude Deveraux book, Lavender Morning. i liked it! Slowed down a bit in the middle but it was a good read. This is the first in Jude's new "Edilean" series and i hope she is speedy about getting the next one out because i want to know what happens! Not that it leaves you hanging, it doesn't, but it leaves you wanting more. It actually reduced me to tears towards the end... but in a good way.

So, The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull. Great read for kids and adults alike. The imagination in this book is terrific and i thoroughly enjoyed it (Thanks to my son Brennan who recommended it to me, and to kids in his class too). Quick read, lots of action, great descriptions and just an overall fun escape from our normal, everyday lives. Brandon also writes the Fablehaven series which has four books, three of which i have read and the fourth i am feverishly waiting for my little friends here are the library to get in!!

So, The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. This is a Young Adult series and you may have seen the movies of the same name but they are far and away from the books. i would say that the movies are the edited and squished versions of the books, thoroughly "Disney-ized". The books are actually a HOOT!! Meg Cabot has a truly wicked sense of humor and she shows it well through our heroine, Amelia Thermopolis/Renaldo... For example, here is something to get you interested... Amelia (fondly known as Mia) cannot start a new year of school without wearing her QUEEN AMIDALA PANTIES! Yep, you read that right, her Queen Amidala Panties... That is just one of many ***Snort Snort Giggle***s i had while reading the first 4.5 books of this series. Books 5 & 6 are on my nightstand and i just haven't gotten to them yet because....

i am now reading the new book by Mary Higgins Clark called Just Take My Heart. It has been pretty good, but here i am 160 pages through and they jury is already ready to deliberate the fate of this man, accused of killing his estranged wife, but i am only HALFWAY THROUGH THE BOOK!! It seems to me that Mary is dropping hints too fast and furious nowadays OR i am just getting better at catching them because for the last few of her books i have been figuring the plot out WAY too early! LOL!! i will just chalk it up to me catching on faster, sounds better anyway! i have gotta finish it soon though, there are lots of people waiting for it!

So that is how my crazy literary life has been going lately, come and comment on this post and lets chat!

~Barb

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. ~Mark Twain

Jeane DuPrau

Been awhile since i talked about books here. Just read City of Ember and People of Sparks. I'm waiting for Prophet of Yonwood to complete the trilogy. City of Ember dragged just a bit in places, but the series as a whole is an enticing journey through post apocalyptic societies. Two of them to be exact -- one that's been hidden away and left untouched and unaware of the disasters happening in the world out side Ember and one that's cobbled itself together and is finally seeing growth and success in a harsh post-war world. I enjoyed the characters and the storyline moved nicely aside from a couple bumps in the first book. You'll find the books in the Young Adult section and the movie made from the first book in the dvds. ~April Dawn

Meg Cabot

Can you imagine reading a story written entirely of emails? Meg Cabot has written the Boy series where the stories are created with emails, faxes, chats, diaries, phone messages, legal documents, receipts, telegrams, and memos. Yes, even memos!
"The Boy Next Door" is the first I read in the series. Mel Fuller is a New York journalist whose neighbor, Mrs. Friedlander, falls into a coma. Max, the neighbor's nephew, has come to take care of the dog and the apartment. They meet, hang out, and fall in love. Although, is he really the neighbor's nephew? This book is my favorite of the series. I really liked Mel, she's funny.
"Boy Meets Girl" is the second I read in the series. I didn't like this one as much as the first one. Kate Mackenzie works at the New York Journal but she really wants to be a social worker and help others. This is why she feels horrible for having to fire Mrs. Lopez for not serving pie to her supervisor. Yeah, like the first 80 pages have to do with pie! Also this book does contain a lot of bad language. Just a warning for those of you who can do without that.
"Every Body's Got One" is the last of the series. I attempted it and lasted 20 pages before I quit.

What I found annoying was the lack of character building in the main characters. I felt, in each book, they started to sound the same.
In "Boy Meets Girl", Mel would say:
"I think he really does love me, and it IS just a stupid societal more. Marriage, I mean."
Or "And he's not a businessy type of person (Dale, I mean)..."
And "Only he's SO NICE--Mitch, I mean--and he smells good, too..."
Then Mitch would say: "The fact of the matter is, Stuart's girlfriend really pulled a number on us both. Kate and me, I mean."
In "Ever Body's Got one", Jane says: "Which wasn't even what I was asking him to watch. My water, I mean. Clearly, I meant my BAG."

Believe me, I had many examples to choose from. I just wondered why they all sounded the same if they were supposed to be different people.

The Gemma Doyle Series.... completed.

This week i finished reading "The Sweet Far Thing" by Libba Bray, the third and final book in her Young Adult Gemma Doyle Series.

The first book in the series "A Great and Terrible Beauty" was very good, started a tad slow, but picked up well and finished nicely. The second book in the series "Rebel Angels" was terrific and i finished it in record time. Staying up late into the night with this page turner that i just couldn't bear to put down was a treat that i haven't had since my Harry Potter days...

The third in the series, "The Sweet Far Thing", i must say, was a disappointment. The story did resolve itself, the good guys won, more or less, and Gemma proved herself magically, but it took 819 pages to do it. ***Sigh*** Too long in my opinion and it took me over a month to read it.

i would compare my disappointment to this: if i had read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book #7), gotten to the end and Harry had lost Ginny in the final battle and not lived happily ever after? That would adequately describe my disappointment in the end of this book. It really was a shame too because the series itself was good, i just couldn't get over the length of book #3 and the deeply disappointing denouement.

i have moved on to reading The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull, a Juvenile novel recommended to me by my 10 year old son. i am about 80 pages into it so far, so stay tuned for updates! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

Barb

Until next time...
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
Marcus Tullius Cicero

What Carmen just read...

“Scarpetta”, by Patricia Cornwell, is the newest of the Kay Scarpetta series. If you like forensics and suspense, this series is quite the master piece. Kay Scarpetta was once the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia and is now basically a consultant who has accepted an assignment in New York City. Oscar Bane, extremely paranoid and voluntarily being held Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric prison ward, insists on seeing only Scarpetta and tells her of a murder he didn’t commit. Or did he? As Oscar’s doctor, she cannot discuss the interview with anyone, including her forensic pathologist husband, Benton Wesley. Lucy, Kay’s billionaire computer genius niece, joins the team and helps solve one of the biggest mysteries of who runs a gossip website. They are all reunited with Marino, a NYPD cop, who is the lead investigator. I quite enjoyed this book. Very suspenseful and educational! And it was good to see Marino again. He disappears in the last book to get away from some damage he created. Even though he's extremely rude, he's my favorite character.